赵彦春英译道安《五失本三不易》 

译胡为秦,有五失本也。

一者,胡语尽倒而使从秦,一失本也；

二者,胡经尚质,秦人好文,传可众心,非文不可,斯二失本也；

三者,胡语委悉,至于咏叹,叮咛反复,或三或四,不嫌其烦,而今裁斥,三失本也；

四者,胡有义说,正似乱辞,寻说向语,文无以异,或千、五百,刈而不存,四失本也；

五者,事已全成,将更傍及,反腾前辞,已乃后说,而悉除此,五失本也。

然《般若经》,三达之心,覆面所演,圣必因时,时俗有易,而删雅古,以适今时,一不易也；

愚智天隔,圣人叵阶,乃欲以千岁之上微言,传使合百王之下末俗,二不易也；

阿难出经,去佛未久,尊者大迦叶令五百六通,迭察迭书;今离千年,而以近意量裁,彼阿罗汉乃兢兢若此,此生死人而平平若此,岂将不知法者勇乎?斯三不易也。

译胡为秦,有五失本也。

When Sanskrit is rendered into Chinese, there are five cases that the original is lost.

一者,胡语尽倒而使从秦,一失本也；

First, the inverted word order of Sanskrit is transformed to suit Chinese, hence the first loss.

二者,胡经尚质,秦人好文,传可众心,非文不可,斯二失本也；

Second, plainness is adored in Buddhist sutras while Chinese people tend to use ornate words. When a message is given to the public, it must be ornate. It's a second loss.

三者,胡语委悉,至于咏叹,叮咛反复,或三或四,不嫌其烦,而今裁斥,三失本也；

Thirdly, Sanskrit texts are detailed, with elaborations, repetitions and reiterations, a painstaking effort indeed; when rendered into Chinese, they are tailored. It's a third loss.

四者,胡有义说,正似乱辞,寻说向语,文无以异,或千、五百,刈而不存,四失本也；

Fourth, in Sanskrit texts there are recapitulations, just like summaries in Chinese; such restatements counting five hundred or a thousand words are deleted in translation. It's a fourth loss.

五者,事已全成,将更傍及,反腾前辞,已乃后说,而悉除此,五失本也。

Fifth, when a paragraph is finished to be followed by another, the preceding words are refered to as introductory words in the next passage. In translation all these are removed. It's a fifth loss. 

然《般若经》,三达之心,覆面所演,圣必因时,时俗有易,而删雅古,以适今时,一不易也；

As in Panna, the profoundest ideas are expressed with the inefficiency of language. What sages say varies to time; now in a different age, archaic words should be adapted, a first thing so hard. 

愚智天隔,圣人叵阶,乃欲以千岁之上微言,传使合百王之下末俗,二不易也；

The intelligence of the sages is such that no ordinary person can match. It is not easy to express the adages of the sages a thousand years ago to the low public today, a second thing so hard.

阿难出经,去佛未久,尊者大迦叶令五百六通,迭察迭书;今离千年,而以近意量裁,彼阿罗汉乃兢兢若此,此生死人而平平若此,岂将不知法者勇乎?斯三不易也。

Soon after Sakya-muni passed away, Ananda began to write sutras. Mahakassapa the Father ordered five hundred arhats to revise and proofread with great circumspection. A thousand years from then, the texts are tailored to today's standards. Those arhats worked with great diligence!  Now we motals are so commonplace, don't we know the difficulty of the Dharma? A third thing so hard.